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First attempt at sketching Mars


F15Rules

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IMG_20201010_012040912.thumb.jpg.943e6c7e79f2fdfa85099ff0cd8fee36.jpgDon't laugh, but tonight, for the first time, I tried sketching while observing.

I have to confess that I am to Art what Attila the Hun was to World Peace, but for a while I've wanted to try to capture something of what I see through my scope.

So I bought myself a little observation book off Amazon, sharpened a pencil, and went outside to look at Mars tonight.

The sky wasn't too bad at all, varying during the hour and a bit that I was out from pretty good to fair seeing and back again, with a bit more cloud evident by the time I packed up at almost 12.30am. There is a lot of moisture in the atmosphere at the moment.

I spent the whole hour looking at Mars with my Tak FS128 and a Revelation binoviewer, loaded with a pair of Morpheus 17.5mms and also a pair of Celestron Halloween 26mm plossls. I also used a Baader 2.25x zoom Barlow for higher power, and the sketch on the right was made at lower power, and the one on the right at a bit higher power. Both pairs gave nice views in moments of steady seeing, with the Morpheus pair delivering a much bigger fov and larger image.

I have no idea what were the features I was looking at, apart from the southern polar cap of course, I will try to look online in the morning to see if anything was vaguely recognisable!

The dark land mass on the southern hemisphere of Mars was by far the most prominent feature while I was looking tonight, and it "came and went" with the varying shimmering of the atmosphere.

I found it very awkward at first, sitting on my Nadira observing chair, looking into the binoviewers (without glasses on), then scrabbling for the pad and pencil and then trying to put something on the page (with glasses on this time!) without dropping everything on the lawn! It really made me appreciate the skill of dedicated and experienced planetary observers like Mike (@MikeDnight)..

Hopefully as I gain a bit more practice it will begin to feel a bit more natural..

I did quite enjoy it though, and will try again on a better night of steady seeing 😊.

Dave

Edited by F15Rules
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Nothing wrong with that, good effort in fact and I have just come in and can relate my observations to your sketch. Had a 85mm frac and 200mm dob out but mostly worked at mid power, Mare Chronium, Eridania and Mare Cimmerium on display.

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Very nice sketches & write up Geof.
I was out last night pushing my little Tak FS-60Q to the limit and was extremely impressed with detail I was able to see between 120x - 150x.
I use Ade Ashford’s brilliant Mars Mapper app to confirm what I’ve been looking at either before or after I go out.
Screen shot of Ade’s app and one of my sketching attempts from a few nights ago below with my FC-100DL.

5CB5CC1C-D7FD-4044-B5F7-4099EB6BD7F6.jpeg

7806B471-5252-4C95-BE45-DBF584E7F04B.jpeg

Edited by jock1958
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1 hour ago, jock1958 said:

Very nice sketches & write up Geof.
I was out last night pushing my little Tak FS-60Q to the limit and was extremely impressed with detail I was able to see between 120x - 150x.
I use Ade Ashford’s brilliant Mars Mapper app to confirm what I’ve been looking at either before or after I go out.
Screen shot of Ade’s app and one of my sketching attempts from a few nights ago below with my FC-100DL.

5CB5CC1C-D7FD-4044-B5F7-4099EB6BD7F6.jpeg

7806B471-5252-4C95-BE45-DBF584E7F04B.jpeg

Jock,

That's really helpful, thank you!

Such a lot of great information, and Ade's app looks great, and I will download it- it's exactly what I was looking for online, but didn't come across it.

I also really like the notes, very concise but informative: I do have a notes page in my observation book, I was just too tired last night when I came in, but that would definitely be the best time to do it, whilst fresh in my mind.

Your sketching is excellent, and use of colour makes a big impact.

Thanks again,

Dave

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Thanks Rob for your kind comments 😊.

Below is a link to the Obs book I bought from Amazon: I bought it in a hurry, but there are others on the site I think.. 

I like this one as it's quite compact, but will take around 100+ observing session logs.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08JF17PST/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_b08jf17pst

Dave

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33 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Jock,

That's really helpful, thank you!

Such a lot of great information, and Ade's app looks great, and I will download it- it's exactly what I was looking for online, but didn't come across it.

I also really like the notes, very concise but informative: I do have a notes page in my observation book, I was just too tired last night when I came in, but that would definitely be the best time to do it, whilst fresh in my mind.

Your sketching is excellent, and use of colour makes a big impact.

Thanks again,

Dave

Hi Dave and thanks for that, why was I calling you Geof?? sorry about that I think I'm getting past it!

I've been observing Mars for the last few weeks and to start of with I wasn't sure which albedo features I was looking at so downloaded Sky Safari Plus but it doesn't seem to represent what I'm looking at, at a particular time.

Luckily had a heads up from fellow SGL'rs regarding this app, I think it's more realistic and representative of what you can actually see at a given time with the ability to fast forward or rewind in days or hours.  

Jock

Edited by jock1958
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25 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Thanks Rob for your kind comments 😊.

Below is a link to the Obs book I bought from Amazon: I bought it in a hurry, but there are others on the site I think.. 

I like this one as it's quite compact, but will take around 100+ observing session logs.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08JF17PST/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_b08jf17pst

Dave

I looked at that book about 45 mins ago and it was £5.15, its just gone up to £6.15. You might have started something 😂

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9 hours ago, F15Rules said:

IMG_20201010_012040912.thumb.jpg.943e6c7e79f2fdfa85099ff0cd8fee36.jpgDon't laugh, but tonight, for the first time, I tried sketching while observing.

I have to confess that I am to Art what Attila the Hun was to World Peace, but for a while I've wanted to try to capture something of what I see through my scope.

So I bought myself a little observation book off Amazon, sharpened a pencil, and went outside to look at Mars tonight.

The sky wasn't too bad at all, varying during the hour and a bit that I was out from pretty good to fair seeing and back again, with a bit more cloud evident by the time I packed up at almost 12.30am. There is a lot of moisture in the atmosphere at the moment.

I spent the whole hour looking at Mars with my Tak FS128 and a Revelation binoviewer, loaded with a pair of Morpheus 17.5mms and also a pair of Celestron Halloween 26mm plossls. I also used a Baader 2.25x zoom Barlow for higher power, and the sketch on the right was made at lower power, and the one on the right at a bit higher power. Both pairs gave nice views in moments of steady seeing, with the Morpheus pair delivering a much bigger fov and larger image.

I have no idea what were the features I was looking at, apart from the southern polar cap of course, I will try to look online in the morning to see if anything was vaguely recognisable!

The dark land mass on the southern hemisphere of Mars was by far the most prominent feature while I was looking tonight, and it "came and went" with the varying shimmering of the atmosphere.

I found it very awkward at first, sitting on my Nadira observing chair, looking into the binoviewers (without glasses on), then scrabbling for the pad and pencil and then trying to put something on the page (with glasses on this time!) without dropping everything on the lawn! It really made me appreciate the skill of dedicated and experienced planetary observers like Mike (@MikeDnight)..

Hopefully as I gain a bit more practice it will begin to feel a bit more natural..

I did quite enjoy it though, and will try again on a better night of steady seeing 😊.

Dave

That’s good 🙂 keep them coming 👍

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11 hours ago, F15Rules said:

I found it very awkward at first

it is isn’t it! I have real difficulty transferring the memorised image to page and not being able to see them both at the same time- I guess it’s a skill that comes with practice and probably very good for the brain! It definitely forces you to look harder and probably notice more- I’m hooked 

Seeing here was a bit rubbish last night- jetstream overhead and it was very cold so a bit disappointing as it was clear horizon to horizon, so i didn’t sketch. I feel like I lost out on something

Looking forward to seeing more from you Dave :)

Mark

 

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Nice sketch - I wish I could draw! I was out at the same time and tried a little experiment. By eye, I could see pretty much what you've sketched, plus some detail in the northern (lighter) half of the disk, including Olympus Mons which was very obvious. I then put the camera in instead of my zoom eyepiece, and looked at the image on the laptop. This gave more detail, and being able to turn the gain up and down meant I had in effect a variable ND filter. Finally, I imaged it in the normal way with a couple of 90 sec captures - this showed even more detail including Sinus Gomer which I think I've only seen once visually (with an EP) when the seeing was really excellent.

Chris

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7 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Thanks Chris..believe me, I cannot draw, so persevere with it!

Any chance of a peek at a couple of your pics?😊

Dave

A couple here Dave (I've put the BAA map alongside for the same time, to id features.

Chris

 

 

 

 

mars091020a.jpg

mars102020.jpg

Edited by chiltonstar
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Wow, Chris, what great images! Thanks for sharing them, you captured some amazing detail there, I must say my visual view wasn't anything like so detailed, and the seeing was changing every minute it seemed, with odd moments of real clarity but more that were "mushy".

I just wish we could get rid of the wretched Jetstream for a bit!

Thanks again,

Dave

PS..What scope were you using?

Edited by F15Rules
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Nice sketch Dave! This could be the start of a very slippery slope. ☺ I'm glad you enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing more in the near future. 

When I get chance, I'll dig out some of my sketches from 30 or 40 years ago, and share them with you privately. You'll feel good about your first sketch after that! 😂

 

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